Creativity and Clear Space: Inseparable or Mutually Exclusive?

Last week, GTD (David Allen's Getting Things Done conference) had an interesting session on Creativity in San Francisco: Creativity and Clear Space – Inseparable or Mutually Exclusive?

The Atlantic's James Fallows (who is still based in China) moderated a panel with Dean Hering, Ben Hammersley, Venkat Rao, Frank Sopper, Greg Stikeleather, Jeff Tidwell and Wayne Pepper.

While a fairly large panel, it worked because of the diversity of creators: artist, author, serial entrepeneur, CEO, engineer and PHD energy came together, yet despite their differences, many agreed on the fundamental principles of what works to get creative juices flowing. And of course, what gets in the way.

Clear space was a key part of the discussion, whether in physical terms, i.e., clearing clutter from your desk) or mental, i.e., getting rid of unneeded distractions. One could argue that incoming content in massive amounts is an unneeded distraction; Twitter and RSS alerts come to mind although "always on-aholics" will argue its not the case.

I use these tools just like everyone else in the industry yet am probably more discerning about how I use them and how often. Some people follow thousands of people on Twitter, yet what would be most valuable is to have thousands follow me and for me to only follow 50-100 of the greatest minds in areas I care about and get their best ideas and thoughts once or twice daily.

Another example to consider is the structured method that many engineers who live by the books use. I'm referring to a very organized and structured life, i.e., start work at 8 am every day, leave for a one hour lunch at 12 pm noon and take off by 5 - every single day without much change in the schedule.

An engineering friend I used to work with in Boston still swims every morning at 5:30 am before work and is still with the same firm. His weekends rarely alter unless they have friends over or its vacation and they're on the road. There are pages of patents plastered to the innovation this man contributed to the industry.

One example a panelist gave was his cousin who improved and refined the taste of coffee by slightly altering his method every day at precisely the same time with only a fraction of a deviation.

He did this at the same time, every day, until he had it right. Creative? Perhaps a slower process than those in the labeled creative industry would be comfortable with. This group of creative minds are often on tight deadlines to produce an award-winning advertising campaign or a script for a daily show.

I think saying "NO" should have been added to the discussion. Saying "NO" to the wrong idea or an event or person that consumes too much of your energy is very much connected to the clear space model.

It's very easy to get trapped into a "go and do what your industry peers" do schedule. Not doing so may be considered anti-community or anti-social and yet, in a clear space paradigm, external distractions and ideas are out of the way leaving "blank white space" for you and only you. Here, you may connect a dot to another dot you never imagined before, i.e., the big idea in the shower, the bigger idea on top of a mountain you climbed to alone and so on.

Sometimes saying "NO" could be to a potential client in a business category you spend most of your time. It may help you define or refine what business you're really in, which you may learn is different than the business you think you're in. This too is creativity in the rawest form.

As for physical clearing, I'm a big believer. My desk is relatively distraction-free and has more creative energy than clutter, yet I don't find it easy to maintain the discipline.

Try implementing more "clear space" as an exercise for a month even if it feels as foreign to you as Arabic. You may find some surprising golden nuggets waiting for you on the other side.